Boot or shoe



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. F. CUSHM AN.

BOOT OR SHOE. No. 374,890. Patented Dec. 13, 1887.

WITNESSES??- l NVENTDKI CWAS-QOOAJLYL a Q): 0 u

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet2.

G. P. OUSHMAN BOOT 0R SHOE.

No. 374,890. Patented Dec. 13, 1887.

nmmmwwma panying drawings, is a specification.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE FRANKLIN OUSHMAN, OF BARNET, VERMONT, ASSIGNOR TO HIM- SELF, AND FRANCIS A. OUSHMAN, OF PLYMOUTH, HAMPSHIRE.

BOOT OR SHOE $PECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374,890, dated December 13, 1887.

Serial No. 178,988. (Nu-model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE FRANKLIN OUsHMAN, of Barnet, in the county of Caledonia and State of Vermont, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boots or Shoes or Parts thereof, of which the following, taken in connection with the accom- I have discovered that certain classes of boots or shoes, and more generally the interior or protected parts of boots or shoessuch as inner soles, counters, box-toes, and heels, usually made of leather or leatherboardmay with equal efficiency be formed from a much cheaper material, (capable also of being molded into the form desired,) to wit, from the exceptionally strong and tough wood pulp produced by the chemical and mechanical treatment set forth in the Letters Patent for process of making wood pulp from wooden blocks, granted to me October 27, 1885. In said process the wooden blocks were first boiled in a solution which toughened while tending to separate their fibers, and were then disintegrated by the action of a revolving grinder.

The product of that process or wood pulp so made mixed with a portion of strong paperstock, when run off comparatively thin and dried, is especially tough and tenacious, but may be out and shaped by hand or machinery or molded to the desired form, and is therefore adapted, by its oheapness and its inherent qualities, for the production of various parts of boots or shoes. Indeed, by some external application of water-proof material, or by mixing with the pulp some ingredient to repel moisture, the entire shoe may be made from the product referred to. Without such waterproofing slippers and other house shoes can be made from this improved material, and are found to be light and durable.

The drawings illustrate some applications of my invention, Figure 1 representing a shoe made entirely of wood pulp toughened as stated. Fig. 2 shows an inner sole; Fig. 3, a counter or heel stiffener; Fig. 4, a heel formed of this improved material 5 and Fig. 5 represents the shoe in vertical section, showing the relation of the parts.

The shoe shown in Figs. 1 and 5 is made up of separate parts, molded to shape from tough ened wood pulp, the sole, heel, and counter being quite thick and practically rigid, while the shank and upper are thin enough to yield somewhat to the movements of the foot or to conform to its outlines.

The various parts of the shoe are formed separately, of differing thicknesses of the material, shaped to the foot and suitably secured do together. The uppers, being thinner and subject to peculiar strains, should be from the best of the material, and may have a liberal ad mixture of strong stock. This grade should also be selected for making the heel-stifieners, 6 5 Fig. 3, unless they are molded quite thick or shaped from extra heavy blanks. The shaping will be effected by counter-machines of the usual construction. The inner soles, Fig. 2, and heels, Fig. 4, may, however, be formed 0 from the common or inferior grades. Such soles will be commonly cut by dies and shaped in a press or by hammering. Heels may either be molded solid or hollow or be built up of a succession of lifts of the sheeted pulp cemented or nailed together and subsequently shaped by hand or machine work. \Vaterproofing may be resorted to, if desired.

I am aware of the common use of leatherboard in the manufacture of heel-stiffeners, and that such leather-board stiifeners have sometimes been coated with a water proof composition. (See, for example, the patent of Moore, dated November 11, 1873.)

I am also aware of the patent to Hesse, dated May 9, 1882, for undershoe, wherein is described a low, seamless, paper-pulp sandal to go inside the stocking, such sandal being formed with an external re-enforce or cloth facing. I make no claim to such pulp-andoloth undershoe, nor to a shoe or any part thereof made of leather-board, my toughened pulp having inherentstrength adequate to the requirements of boots or shoes without external fibrous re-enforcement, and my material being in character and capabilities substantial] y unlike leather-board.

Parts of shoes having been made of paper, leathenboard, &c., I do not claim such; but

What I claim is- 1. A shoe made of the toughened wood pulp 4. A boot or shoe provided with a heel-stiffherein described, and Consisting of separate ener made of the toughened wood pulp herein parts made from said'material united to form described, suitably connected to the shoe, sub- I 5 afoot-covering, substantially as set forth. stantially as set forth.

5 2. A boot or shoe provided with an inner In testimony whereofI have signed my name sole of the toughened wood pulp herein deto this specification, in the presence of two scribed, suitably secured, substantially as set subscribing witnesses, on this 19th day of Sepforth. teinber, A. D. 1885.

3. A boot or shoe provided with a heel built GEORGE FRANKLIN CUSHMAN. 10 up of successive layers of the toughened wood pulp herein described, and suitably secured to the shoe, substantially as set forth.

Witnesses:

MARsHALL MONTGOMERY, D. E. BLANOHARD. 

